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3 Israelis beaten by mob in London for speaking Hebrew

One of them called the police but was told, ‘We are busy, first calm down.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Three Israelis were beaten by a mob in London’s West End during the weekend because they were speaking Hebrew to each other, as reported by News 12 in Israel.

One of the three Israelis had grown up in the UK and accompanied two other Israelis on an outing in Leicester Square, an area of London often crowded with tourists.

One of them decided to take his kippah off and the three walked down the street together speaking Hebrew.

Three strangers approached them and asked if they were Jewish.

When one of them, who identified herself as Tehilla, answered “Yes, I’m Jewish” the assailants yelled, “Free Palestine” and “F**k Jews” while hitting them with bottles.

The three Israelis ran away into a nearby shop but were pursued by the assailants.

When they attempted to defend themselves, the shop owner demanded that the Israelis pay for the damage caused by their attackers.

One of them called the police, but was told, “We are busy, first calm down.”

As they continued to flee, the crowd grew in size.

One of the victims of the attack who called himself G told Channel 12 news, “Suddenly from three people they became five and their numbers kept increasing. They would not leave.”

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He added, “There were 30 people in a circle. It could have been much worse. Suddenly we felt blows to the face. Dry blows. Luckily, there was no blood.”

Tehilla said, “I tried to stop them and stood in front as I was sure they would never hit a woman. They couldn’t care less, they hit me as well.”

On its X account, the London Metropolitan Police posted that they arrived on the scene 28 minutes after they were initially called and added, “Of course, we wish we could have come to their aid sooner.”

The police also said they are treating the incident as a hate crime and added “tackling antisemitic crime is a priority for the Met. There is no place for hate in our city.”

According to the Anti-Defamation League, in the over three months since the October 7 attack, 2,039 anti-Semitic incidents were reported in Britain.

The number of anti-Semitic incidents reported in the United States increased 388% during the same period.